4 out of 5 Stars!

Slade always seemed to me like a glam version of Humble Pie injected with a slew of Mott The Hoople’s punk attitude, a healthy dosage of Sweet’s pop sensibility, and a trunk-load of David Bowie’s “Ziggy-era” stage clothing.

Slayed?—the band’s second studio album—is a perfect example of what I’m talking about. Here we have solid blues-based Hard Rock with driving rhythms, shrieking guitars, tinkling “barroom” pianos, gut-wrenching vocals, silly lyrics and song titles, and a whole TON of catchy choruses. The band’s cover of Janis Joplin’s “Move Over” with the wild bass lines, slamming guitars, and Noddy Holder’s punchy and raspy vocals, as well as tracks such as “Mama Weer All Crazee Now,” “Gudbuy T’Jane,” “How D’You Ride,” and “The Whole World’s Goin’ Crazee” alone certainly influenced a bunch of bands to develop in future years. So if anything, this album alone likely created/inspired most of the “Hair Bands” and “Sleaze Bands” in the late 1970s and the entire 1980s. (Not sure what Slade did for spelling or phonics in English-speaking countries—or should that be “countreez”?—but that’s another issue in itself.)

All jesting aside, Slayed? is good old-fashioned rock ‘n’ roll fun, hand-clappin’, foot-stompin’, head-bangin’ party rock, and this album could easily be labeled as “a classic”…and “a CRAZEE classic” at that!

Get The Album Now!